"When we were kids, we couldn't wait to visit Uncle Joe and Aunt Anna; we thought he was so cool, except that wasn't the word in those days. He built the house he and his family lived in on Jessica Place, and it's always been one of my favorite places", remembers Janice. Joe was a plasterer by trade, and built several other houses on Jessica Place. In later years, he worked at St. Mary's Church in Roslyn Harbor, where we all went to church back then.

Uncle Joe became ill in 1963, and suffered with pain for quite some time before he finally went to a doctor. Janice says: "I remember Aunt May telling Mom and Pop about this at the time. When he finally went for surgery, the cancer was all through him, and nothing could be done. He suffered with it for months, passing away just before Easter, 1964. At the time, there was talk about the possibility of cigarettes having caused the disease in Joe, but some years later, Pop told me he believed it was actually the asbestos that Uncle Joe worked with in the plastering business. At the time, though, it's what caused my Dad to quit smoking cigarettes."

Uncle Mike & Aunt Marie Hollenczer (Hollenger)

Mike changed the spelling of his surname to Hollenger. Janice says: "Aunt Anna Whitlow told me he once said, it looked like that, anyway, so he started writing it that way."
Before Mike and Marie moved to Florida in the mid 1950s, they lived in Norfolk, Virginia. We visited them from time to time when we were children, and it was one of my favorite things! BUDGIES!! Uncle Mike raised budgerigars--budgie-birds-- to sell to stores, but he and Aunt Marie also had their very own "Budgie"; they taught him to talk and sing, and to do tricks, too. I used to love my visits with Budgie, and everyone else down there, too, of course. I loved visiting there when I was young, and remember having a wonderful maroon snow suit, coat and leggings, and it came with a rolled brim hat with ear flaps, which tied under the chin. We would go to the park, summer or winter, but I remember winter and that suit best, where I'd feed peanuts to the squirrels, pronouncing their name almost as "squails". I was just amazed that these creatures would come right up to me; of course everything was personal at 3 or 4 years old!- Janice Bernath

Janice and Margaret remember going to visit them in Norfolk, and taking the ferry boat across the Chesapeake Bay. Pop would hold us up so we could peer over the rail, and we'd always be afraid he'd drop us into the water.
Janice remembers, "The summer before I turned 6, in 1952, just around the time Steven was born, I went to spend the summer with Aunt Marie and Uncle Mike. Aunt Marie flew up, but I was afraid of flying even then, so we took the train to VA. And we almost took the train to North Carolina by mistake! But a porter (RedCap!) came to warn us, and we changed trains just in time. That was a wonderful summer, and I had some friends in their neighborhood, almost my age. What a great time childhood is! That summer Uncle Mike showed me he could drive with.....look! no hands!.....look! no feet!... I showed him I could spill a big drink all over myself in any situation! They laughed; I didn't! Early in the mornings on weekends, Uncle Mike would ride me on his shoulders around the yard, and give me "horsey" rides on his back, too. They had a garden, too, and grew watermelons. WATERMELONS!! I had no idea people could GROW them for THEMSELVES!"

When we were young, Aunt Marie made us clothes for dolls they gave us when Barbies first came out; Janice's was a 'Jill' though, and Margaret's was a "Ginny", a little girl version of the teenage "Jill" doll. Not quite like Barbie, they were made of hard plastic, but had movable arms and legs. "I wish I still had it!", says Janice. "Two of the outfits I remember from Aunt Marie were a pleated skirt with shoulder straps and a bolero jacket, made of a cadet blue fabric. She also made Margaret and me wonderful LONG dresses, mine was a yellow orange color, Margaret's blue, out of organdy. We wore those til they wore out!"

"They bought me my first "pearl" jewelry, which I wore for the next 2 years, I think! And continuing the tradition my dad started at home on LI, I continued making things out of plaster! (Pop gave me my very own plaster of paris, and I made 'pies' out of that instead of mud. I learned something about molds at a very tender age.....they have to be wider at the top than at the bottom!) But the things I made in VA were in rubber molds; Walt Disney figurines, Snow White, Cinderella....I loved it! Budgie ate breakfast with me in the mornings, sitting on the rim of my glass and taking a drink if he wanted. I also found out Budgie would sit on your shoulder or your head, and he messed where he wanted!!"

"I also remember going to a beauty parlor for the first time, having my hair washed and set, and sitting under one of those airplane engine sounding dryers!"
"Back then, bottles of milk came with those pleated paper caps, and that's what the hairdresser used to cover the ears while the ladies were under the dryers. The walk to and from was down a dusty lane, and I can still hear the bugs and feel the heat and smell the air when I think about it!"
"On another day, we'd go into Norfolk, and stop in Western Union so I could see where Uncle Mike worked. That was the first time I ever saw swinging 'gates' indoors!"
"At the end of the summer, Uncle Mike and Aunt Marie drove me home, and we stopped overnight at a motel, on Rte. 13 in Maryland. We bought things there to take home for Margaret, I remember; brightly colored diamond shaped blocks." Margaret says, "I remember those blocks! They were my some of my favorite toys. We had them for years." "When we got to Pennsylvania, we stopped at the job my dad was working on, in what was Levittown, PA. Little did I know that within the next few years, we'd be living there! And the biggest surprise of all, when we got back to Roslyn, LI, I had a brand new baby brother!" - Janice Bernath

Margaret recalls, "I remember Uncle Mike and Aunt Marie coming to visit us in Pennsylvania in 1960. They drove us to the Levittown Shopping Center, where there was a John Kennedy campaign site. They got us some Kennedy campaign buttons, and I was so thrilled. I remember wearing the button on my coat when I went to school. And of course, since we went to Catholic school, the campaign buttons were a big hit, Kennedy being the first Catholic presidential candidate, and the choice of all the nuns in the school!"

Margaret also remembers visiting Uncle Mike and Aunt Marie in Florida in the early 70's. "My husband and I, recently married, drove to Orlando for a vacation. While we were there, on the spur of the moment, I thought we should visit my Aunt and Uncle in St. Petersburg. Uncle Mike didn't know me at first, when we arrived at their house. I had to explain to him I was his brother Steve's daughter. When he finally realized who I was, he was so excited to see us! We stayed at their house that night, but stayed up most of the night, listening to the stories Uncle Mike had to tell us of all the jobs he had had, and the places he'd been. He brought out photo albums and souvenirs, and it was wonderful listening to him talk. We hated to leave the next day, and Uncle Mike and Aunt Marie hated to see us leave. That was the last time I saw Uncle Mike.

Aunt Marie came to Pennsylvania to visit my parents not long after Uncle Mike passed away, and she came to our house for dinner one night. My husband was so taken with her, he escorted her around the house, served her dinner, and just doted on her. I was so happy to see her once again. Aunt Marie passed away not long after that visit."

Back      Even More Stories

Uncle John Stories  Aunt Mary Stories  Steve Hollenczer Stories  Grandma Hollenczer Stories

Aunt Anna Whitlow Stories  Grandpa Hollenczer Stories

Joe-Joe Stories  Helen Stories  Uncle Pete Stories  Janice Stories    Margaret Stories

Hosted by www.Geocities.ws